The first lighthouse in England was built in 1619 at the Lizard, Cornwall. Legend suggests that the man who built it, Sir John Killigrew, was actually a pirate and wanted to lure ships close to the shore to plunder them.

Much like today, in the Middle Ages, no one really trusted anyone else. As someone approached, to alleviate paranoia, he would hold out his open palm to show that he was not going to whack your head off with a sword. This gesture put everybody at ease, and eventually evolved into the modern custom known as the handshake.

The sensitivity of the human eye is so keen that on a clear, moonless night, a person with 20/20 vision standing on a mountain can see a match being struck as far as 50 miles away. Much to their amazement, astronauts in orbit were able to see the wakes of ships.

A cat falling from a higher floor, after it stops accelerating, spreads its legs into an umbrella shape, which increases the area against which the air must push and increases the friction, thus slowing the cat?s fall. A cat falling from a lower height does not have the opportunity to increase its body?s area, slow its fall, or position his body to land on all four feet.

According to a British medical report, the fungi that feed on old paper may be mildly hallucinogenic, and the "fungal hallucinogens" may cause an "enhancement of enlightenment" in readers. The source of creative inspiration for many great authors through history may have been a quick sniff of moldy books, causing them to get high.

It was reported in January 2000 that ostrich producers were attempting to lure CBS personality David Letterman to become a spokesman for their product. They said that less-fatty ostrich meat made into "ostrich and tortellini soup" was perfect for someone like Letterman, who was then recovering from quintuple-bypass heart surgery.

Diminutive actor Felix Sills played the hirsute role of Cousin Itt on The Addams Family. Years later, he was Twiki on television?s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and also was one of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi.

False teeth are often radioactive. Approximately 1 million Americans wear some form of denture; half of these dentures are made of a porcelain compound laced with minute amounts of uranium to stimulate fluorescence. Without the uranium additive, the dentures would be a dull green color when seen under artificial light.

Helen Wills Moody was the first female African-American tennis player to achieve international fame. She had more Wimbledon titles than any woman in history until Martina Navratilova broke the record in 1990.

Permanent hearing loss can result from prolonged exposure to sounds at 85 decibels (0 decibels is the threshold for hearing). For comparison, a busy street corner is about 80 decibels, a subway train heard from 20 feet is 100 decibels, a jet plane heard from 500 feet is 110 decibels, and loud thunder is 120 decibels.

The phrase "the whole 9 yards" derives from World War II combat pilots in the South Pacific. Their planes were armed with machine guns that took .50 caliber ammo belts, which were exactly 27 feet long. Hence, whenever the pilots blasted all their bullets at a target, it caught "the whole 9 yards.?

The first envelopes with gummed flaps were produced in 1844. In Great Britain, they were not immediately popular because it was thought to be a serious insult to send a person?s saliva to someone else.

Elvis wanted to be a political activist, so he hand-delivered a letter to a White House guard and met with President Nixon on December 21, 1970. Presley embraced the president, gave him a gun, and stated that he had been studying "drug culture" for the last ten years. Nixon awarded Elvis an honorary Narcotics Bureau badge.

When Sesame Street?s Big Bird visited the Nixon White House as a guest of First Lady Patricia Nixon, the Secret Service?s radio frequency got mixed up with Big Bird?s microphone frequencyso the Secret Service was picking up Big Bird?s lines in their earpieces.

Scientists at NASA tested the effects of certain human drugs on a spider?s ability to spin webs. A spider on marijuana tried to make a web, but gave up when it was only half-done. Spiders on Benzedrine, or speed, spun webs quickly, but left huge holes in them, making odd patterns. Spiders on caffeine only spun some random threads, while those on sleeping pills never bothered to start making a web.

Although the early Egyptians were the most famous mummy makers, they were not exactly the first to practice this now-long-dead art. An extremely advanced fishing tribe known as the Chinchoros, who inhabited the north coast of what is present-day Chile, were wrapping up their ex-tribesmen from head to toe as early as 5000 B.C.- way before the pharoahs!

In Peking, during the Middle Ages, one took revenge against one?s enemies by placing finely chopped tiger whiskers in their food. The whisker barbs would get caught in the victim?s digestive tract and cause sores and infections. Not even the earliest forms of Pepto Bismal helped!

Migrating geese fly in a V-formation to conserve energy. A goose?s wings churn the air and leave an air current behind. In the flying wedge, each bird is in position to get a lift from the current left by the bird ahead. It is easier going for all, except the leader. During a migration, geese are apt to take turns in the lead position.

Horse racing is one of the most ancient sports, originating in central Asia among prehistoric nomadic tribesmen around 4500 B.C. When humans began keeping written records, horse racing was already an organized sport throughout the world. Bookies came much later.

In 1994, singer/musician Paul McCartney sent back his razor, shaving cream, and other products to the Gillette Co. to protest the manufacturer?s use of animals in its product testing. In his letter to Gillette?s chief executive, the former Beatles demanded a refund, which he said he would donate to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

"Much like today, in the Middle Ages, no one really trusted anyone else. As someone approached, to alleviate paranoia, he would hold out his open palm to show that he was not going to whack your head off with a sword. This gesture put everybody at ease, and eventually evolved into the modern custom known as the handshake."

this is so anachronistic. handshakes are far more ancient than middle ages wow